In my humble opinion, banana bread is the little black dress of the baking world. So adaptable ! So versatile! It asks very little and gives back in spades of cinnamon-y deliciousness. People often praise you on your mad baking skills when you pull it out of the oven and, like shimmying into your favourite LBD and fending off compliments with the; ‘Oh this old thing?’ line, you feel simultaneously smug and virtuous when you’ve got a loaf cooling on the rack at home, happy in the knowledge that you and your bare hands managed to whip up some café standard fare, from scratch.

For all those reasons, BB bread is a pretty big deal around these parts. So much so that I pretty much bake a loaf every week (this could also be due to my inability to walk past ‘on sale’ bananas, no matter how many I already have at home in the fruit bowl). It’s equally popular in both kindy and grown up lunchboxes. I personally can’t go past a slice, warm and slathered in butter, with a cup of tea once the toddler has gone down for his midday nap. All that delicious, cinnamon goodness is a potent symbol of comfort and relaxation, the food equivalent of being able to go ‘ahhhhh’.

While husband, son and my father all enjoy a piece of whatever version I’ve deigned to whip up that week, there’s one person who always misses out; my poor ol’ mum. Since having to remove the majority of dairy from her diet, her options for baked goods have been limited and while it’s not hard to create delicious food that’s dairy free, I often only remember that she can’t eat it, after I’ve poured in half a cup of cows milk and 50g of melted butter.

Mums’ time to shine (or indulge) has arrived however, with this rather delectable dairy-free Choc-Banana Bread. When Vitasoy got in touch to see if I’d be keen to try whipping up a recipe using their flagship soymilk rangeI phoned mum to find out if Vitasoy was something she drank. I knew the soymilk she had in the fridge at home was made using organic, non-GMO whole soybeans (as I’d told her to look for that when buying one) but apart from that, I was a bit clueless. As it turned out, Vitasoyis her go-to brand so we were sorted.

I was keen to see how my original recipe (which included both milk AND butter) would fare with the introduction of both original, full fat soymilk and coconut butter and mum was keen to sample the fruits of my labour.

Happily, the resulting loaf was delish. The soymilk gave a slightly nuttier flavor to the end product, which was a little bit yummy, while the coconut butter ensured that regular butter wasn’t missed in the slightest.

Ingredients

1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

1 cup almond meal (If you wanted to go gluten free, you could use all almond meal)

½ cup coconut butter (I used the refined, flavour-less version but you could use the standard)

¼ cup dairy free choc chips (I used a standard bar that I bashed up with a rolling pin, you could you regular or dark chocolate if you’re not dairy free)

2 tbsp rice bran syrup (you could substitute with honey)

1.5 tbsp raw cacao or cocoa powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp all-spice

½ tsp natural vanilla extract

½ tsp lemon juice

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 180c (160c fan forced)

Combine the baking powder and lemon juice (the lemon juice activates the baking powder so that it starts fizzing)

Add all ingredients, except for the chocolate/choc chips, into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a food processor

Mix on low speed to combine (don’t over process as this will thin out the mixture too much)

Add the chocolate/chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Grease a loaf tin with coconut butter and pour in the batter

Sprinkle the top of the loaf with ground cinnamon

Place in the oven and bake for 40-45 min (a skewer inserted should come out clean when done) The loaf is quite dense and won’t rise spectacularly so don’t use its size as an indication of it being done as it may burn.

Enjoy!

Wanna give this recipe a go at home? Vitasoy is giving away a hamper of prodz (worth $150) perfect for baking up a storm.

To enter, all you need to do is tell us in the comments below HOW you would integrate Vitasoy into your day? Maybe it’s in your morning coffee or perhaps you want to give this (admittedly amazing) recipe a go.
Let us know and you’re in the running to win!

The Promotion will be open from 12:01 am Australian Eastern Standard Time (“AEST”) on Tuesday 15 April 2014 and will continue until 5:00 pm AEST on Tuesday 29 April 2014 (“Promotion Period”).

Entry is open to all Australian residents, aged 14 years and over, other than management, employees or contractors of the Promoter and other agencies, firms or companies associated with the Promotion (including suppliers of prize), and their immediate families (“Eligible Entrants”).

Hi there,
this sounds like a great substitute and product compared to dairy milk. I am finding it increasingly common that after dairy milk i feel bloated, painful and sick. I would love to try and incorporate Vitasoy into my daily diet in my morning coffee and on by breakfast. I would also use it in baking as i had never thought of that before and i will definately be trying this reciepe as i LOVE banana bread and always use my grandmas reciepe but would love to try Vitasoy in this choc banana bread.

I have been waiting for this recipe since I saw the photo on FB yesterday!
I love Vitasoy…we generally always have some sort of “alternative” milk on hand.
I have porridge every morning and my favourite toppings are grated apple, chopped dates, crushed almonds, coconut, maple syrup and a splash of Vitasoy!
And I will definitely try out this recipe too!

Emma

April 15, 2014 at 3:48 pm (3 years ago)

Thank you! I’m always after non dairy alternatives for dexter and he’ll LOVE this! Generally just substitute soy milk in most recipes and hope for the best. Will be making for Easter! Pretty sure it won’t last the whole weekend!

melanie w

April 17, 2014 at 1:02 am (3 years ago)

Coffee, cereal and baking galore
uses for Vitasoy everyday i could find more
if this prize pack finds its way to my door
trying this recipe is what i have instore
Banana bread and caramel Vitasoy ice-cream stack i may adore.

This recipe looks amazing. I haven’t actually tried Vitasoy before but I think that this would be the perfect recipe to start with. I’d like to get my girls trying something different too, maybe some shakes could go down well with this recipe.

Jennifer B.

April 19, 2014 at 4:02 pm (3 years ago)

I love muffins! They freeze so well for lunchboxes throughout the week and are great with my afternoon tea. Blueberry is good but DATE AND BANANA MUFFINS with a crust of sugar and cinnamon on top are my favourite!
I’d try swapping VITASOY for regular milk.

sapna

April 23, 2014 at 10:43 pm (3 years ago)

Everyone llikes soy milk in our home .

I make superhero smoothie for my son using 1 cup of soymilk ,1 ripe banana, 2 tbs chopped almonds,1/4 cup blueberries. Its very easy and quick to make – just let everything blend in the blender until creamy.

My favourite is supermum overnight oats…
soak 1 cup of rolled oats in 1 cup of soy milk alongwith 1tbs honey and few berries and let everything rest in the fridge overnight. In the morning just mix and eat . this is easy breakfast recipe for me which provides lasting energy.